Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Six male civilians, all cousins were killed in the village of Al Fadghami, Al Hassakah “as a result of Coalition strikes” it was reported.
Local activist Siraj al Hasskawi published details of the event on the day: “At 10:30 on Friday morning the Western/Arab alliance jets committed a massacre against six unarmed civilians and wounded two in the village of Al Fadghami 70 km South of Hasaka city on the old Hassaka/Deir Ezzor road near Shaddadi city…. The six martyrs had met, along with a number of relatives, in front of the home of Mr. Suleiman to eat breakfast and had their cars parked in front of the house. Unmanned surveillance planes were circling the skies of the village and surrounding villages. Then without warning a coalition aircraft fired a missile on one of their cars, burning it completely and killing the six cousins, and injuring two others. The first car was completely destroyed and the second one was damaged. The house where women and children live was partially damaged.
Civilians reported killed: Coalition position: Sources: Quality of reporting:
… Both Mahmoud and Hussein had returned from Iraq two months ago with their parents after the border between Syria and Iraq was removed, and they both decided to live in the village of their parents. Mahmoud lived in the house of Mr. Suleiman Hussein al Salim, in front of which the massacre took place. The other four martyrs (Satem, Abdullah, Ghassan .and Ali ) were all civilians working in agriculture and other freelance work and did not belong to any armed military faction. All were married and each had children between the ages of 9 and 15. They have now been buried in al Fadaghma Cemetery.”
The men, all residents of al Fadghami, have been identified by the VDC.
Also reported injured in the event were Bashar Hamidi al Salim and Ashraf Mukhlef Al Ali.
In July 2017, the Coalition said there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to determine civilian casualties: “Sep. 27, 2014, near Al Fadghami, Syria, via Airwars report: After a review of available information and strike video it was assessed that there is insufficient evidence to find that civilians were harmed in this strike.”
Given how well reported the event was, Airwars is seeking additional clarification from the Coalition. We continue to assess this event as Fair.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Fadghami (الفدغمي), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.9117847, 40.8869932. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (11) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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Attached to this civilian harm incident is a provisional reconciliation of the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, based on matching date and locational information.
The declassified documents were obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, and are included alongside the corresponding press release published by the Pentagon. Airwars is currently analysing the contents of each file, and will update our own assessments accordingly.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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After a review of available information and strike video it was assessed that there is insufficient evidence to find that civilians were harmed in this strike.
Original strike reports
Sources: Quality of reporting: